The Thing He Lost
by shadowsfromthedream
Summary: Natsume loses something whenever he touches Mikan, or even just sees her. It's effecting her, too, and he has to do something about it.


Hello, Gakuen Alice realm!

My debut in this area of fanfiction, a weird idea I came up with whilst doing something that is a scene in here.

Enjoy, peoples!

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><p>Balance.<p>

It was a strange gift. Or perhaps a talent, or a developed one through practice.

Natsume considered himself gifted with catlike balance, (hence the appropriateness of kuro neko) because how else could he jump four stories and not even waver in the slightest?

Except with one area of his life.

Mikan Sakura.

A rather big point of his life, to be honest. He was in love with her, after all.

When he saw her, everything blurred as he only saw her face. His feet compelled him faster towards her. When she smiled, he could feel a slight drag pulling him towards her, no matter how stable he was beforehand. When she laughed, it seemed the forces of gravity brought his hand on hers and had kinetic energy running along his nerves, making him laugh too.

He could laugh forever with her.

Kinetic energy must make him very ticklish.

But when they kissed...

That was a different matter entirely.

A whole new problem, to be exact.

When he felt her lips against his own, the poles of the world flipped upside-down, the sky became the earth, (that's why he was walking on fricking clouds afterwards) and in general the world was in an orbit around Mikan the Sun with days shortened to a second due to the rotation.

Can't really blame him for losing his balance, really.

But still...

They kissed. They fell hard to the ground. The two had bruises from it, too, to add another sting to Natsume's pride.

However, he pulled his usual 'clumsy Mikan is clumsy card,' and therefore she had no idea about her effect on him.

It was when he had been just about to say his good-night at her room, (or, rather, a short bye. He wasn't one for overexpressing.) when he noticed a nasty-looking black and blue mark right on the elbow.

When he asked about it, (asking means stubbornly insisting whilst refusing to let go of her small waist until she gave in) she had blushed and waved it off as minor. But with more of the previously stated method, (something he noted to use later on, it was quite effective) she then broke down, and said that it was from one of their kisses.

That was from him?

He couldn't bear to hurt her.

Especially like that.

And that was exactly what brought him to the playground that day.

Specifically standing up on a teeter-totter, in the middle, trying to balance both sides with equal weight.

He felt like a museum exhibit. The children present were wondering at what he was doing, and when he was going to get off. The mothers were in full fangirl mode, complimenting literally every inch of him.

He was blushing like mad.

The things he did for her...

"Natsume!" He heard a voice call out his name, distracting him. He leaned too much to the right, and sighed as he tried to balance out the left side.

No.

Wait.

That was Mikan.

Quickly jumping off, he strolled towards her, (somehow only letting a small uptake in pace from the gravitational pull) pretending to look at his phone so she couldn't see his current skin tone of tomato red.

His eyes itched to look at her, to take in her beauty, but for the sake of impressions, he kept his head bowed.

"Natsume...?" She said his name again with a little lift in tone to indicate she had picked up his strange behavior.

"...'Ey, Polka."

The red had faded from his cheeks enough to look her in the eyes.

Only to return in the form of an eye twitch as he felt the usual pull on his heart channeling to the rest of his nerves.

"...Ne, Natsume, are you okay?"

So she really was worried.

He noticed the women's eyes still had hearts in them, so he took her hand while leading her towards a bench.

The wave of congenial disappointment fell over the park, and a silence presided.

Mikan watched everything with a confused look as they sat down.

"...So, Natsume, what were you doing up on that teeter-totter?" She cut straight to the chase.

Excuse. Excuse, excuse, excuse. Better come up with one.

"...Um, well, I was trying to, uh... See something better!"

Lame excuse is lame.

"What were you trying to see?" She inquired, looking around.

"Ah, here, I can show you." He said, standing up and not letting her hand go, (he didn't feel like dealing with fangirls today) searching desperately for something.

Standing up on the teeter-totter, (which was still deserted from the general depression of the place) he saw a small creek.

"See, look where I'm pointing."

She stood up, very close to him because of the size of the middle of the playground equipment, making him have a sharp intake of breath. She wrapped an arm around him for stability, the hidden irony irritating to him.

"Do you see that creek over there? I heard water, so I decided to find the source." He explained, pointing over to his salvation.

"Let's go see it, then!" She exclaimed. "It is a hot day, after all!"

He seemed to be out of the suspicion thought process.

Dragging him after her, within three minutes they were at the creek.

"It's a long ways over here, isn't it?" She said casually.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?"

"And this creek is small... It would be hard to hear..."

"Yes, that's... Right." Realizing what he was saying, he paused.

She looked straight at him, searching his eyes.

"What are you pulling, Hyuuga?"

Uh-oh.

Last name.

He was in trouble.

"Kuro neko really is a good name for me, you know? I have catlike hearing, too."

"What were you doing on that teeter-totter?"

"I told y...!"

She grabbed him, pulling him into a fiery kiss.

The world turned upside-down, and they were both on the ground.

Sometimes, he wished with all his might that she didn't have such an effect on him.

Finally releasing him from an iron like grip, (she didn't look it, but that strength Alice stone she had taken from one of her enemies was one hell of a...strength-add-on?) she stared at him intensely.

"What were you doing on the teeter-totter?" She repeated.

"...I...I..." He stammered.

"I don't like being withheld secrets." She said, running her hand up his arm.

"... Previously explained reason, Polka-baka!" He stammered out, turning to hide his intensified blush. (That was definitely just his fire Alice concentrating in one area, darn it!)

"Polka-baka? Then you're...!" She went on and on, listing insults and trying to find one that fit.

He seemed to have distracted her enough.

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><p>But not for long.<p>

For days afterwards, she interrogated him with hardly any cessation. Their conversation always seemed to loop back to the whole you're-keeping-secrets-Natsume issue.

Hotaru also was screwing with him. He would try to change the subject, and then she would interject a comment that would start Mikan on a whole new secrets-are-BAD-for-relationships lecture, and he would sit there wondering when she took a class on psychology.

Her one-track mind was grating on his nerves.

Still, she was not getting any answers. He did not cave easily.

It was not until they were in Natsume's room, him bandaging her wounds after a particularly difficult mission, (After she joined the DA, they had become partners, and therefore in quite a few missions) and he had to go into the medicine cabinet for more bandages.

After about five minutes, she tired of just sitting on the edge of his bed with legs dangling, bandages hanging from them awkwardly. She glanced around his room, seeing if there were any changes.

She noticed a white piece of paper on his desk. Glancing at the bathroom, she saw he was still busy tearing the cabinets apart. She quietly walked over to it, and carefully picked up the sheet without a sound.

What she read made her eyes widen.

Natsume heard a strangled sound from the bathroom.

'Is she choking?' He thought worriedly, stepping over the mess. He would not be surprised, either. She could be such an idiot at times.

Rounding around the corner, he saw her standing next to his desk with eyes like saucers. He was about to ask her what was wrong, but then he saw the... Paper.

She looked at him with shining eyes, and then tackled him to the ground in an epicly strong bear hug, (that dang Alice stone, let me tell you!) Yelling, "That's so romantic, Natsume!"

Natsume just stared at her, all of his Alice seemingly in his face.

The white paper fluttered to the ground, its words no longer concealed. Natsume was too much in shock and busy having the life kissed out of him to notice.

It said,

You have a whole gravitational pull for me. It seems as though even the Earth's forces are trying to put us together.

And that's why when we kiss, my world turns upside down.

Because that's the effect you have on me.

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><p>Did'ya like it? I enjoyed torturing Natsume... *smiles*<p>

Yeah, I was balancing on a teeter-totter because of extreme boredom when this came to me. Weird idea...

The end was super, super cheesy. What the paper said... Ugh. Blegh. Not the best thing I've written.


End file.
